Vols-Hokies to play at Bristol speedway

Call it football in the fast lane, though it has nothing to do with those up-tempo-offenses. Tennessee and Virginia Tech will play a game at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2016, a person with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press. The person spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because an official announcement is still in the works.

The speedway holds 150,000. The NCAA-recognized attendance record for college football is 115,109, set last month at Michigan Stadium for the Michigan-Notre Dame game.

The Bristol Motor Speedway Commission announced plans for a news conference Monday at the track for what it called a major announcement, but gave no details.

Free archery clinic scheduled Saturday

HUBBARD

The Hubbard Conservation Club has scheduled a free youth and beginners archery clinic Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

All equipment and supplies will be provided by the HCC club at 1760 Wick-Campbell Road. The trained staff will provide beginners with hands-on education about archery.

For enrollment information, contact Brian Radcliff at 330-610-5802.

Tagliani to fill in for Franchitti at Fontana

INDIANAPOLIS

Alex Tagliani has mixed feelings about replacing three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti in the Oct. 19 season-ending IndyCar race at Fontana. He gets his shot to drive for one of the top teams in the series. But it took an injury for Tagliani to get the seat.

Franchitti remained hospitalized Wednesday with two fractured vertebrae, a broken ankle and a concussion suffered in a last-lap accident Sunday at the Grand Prix of Houston.

Tagliani will drive the No. 10 Honda for Target Chip Ganassi Racing at Auto Club Speedway in California alongside IndyCar championship leader Scott Dixon. The team will be trying to help Dixon win a third series championship. Dixon takes a 25-point lead over Helio Castroneves into the finale.

Kobe progresses, still weeks from playing

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.

Although Kobe Bryant is making steady progress in his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon, he’s still a few weeks away from playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant is back with the Lakers after a short trip to Germany to get treatment on his right knee, another trouble area for the 35-year-old guard. He sat on Los Angeles’ bench for an exhibition game Tuesday night, and he’ll travel with the team to China later this week.

But the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history isn’t committing to any return date until he gets in shape and figures out how his legs will hold up when he’s back in uniform. Bryant said he’ll need roughly three weeks of conditioning to get into game shape, his usual allotment for a return from any extended layoff. The Lakers’ season begins Oct. 29.

US wants changes in WCup site bid process

LONDON

The United States wants further changes to the World Cup bidding process before trying to bring soccer’s showpiece event to the country again. FIFA executive committee member Sunil Gulati, who is also president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, still has deep concerns about the process that led to Qatar beating his country and others to the 2022 World Cup.

Gulati said that while the American bid was centered on purely sporting objectives, rivals wanted the World Cup as a platform for their countries to project themselves on the world stage.

“The rules, the procedures, need to be very different than they are now,” Gulati told the Leaders in Football conference in London. “It’s a unique situation that the Olympics and the World Cup have become so important to countries that nation states are now essentially bidding, it’s no longer bid committees.”

Staff reports/Associated Press

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